“Thank you for your assistance.” Cynnia bowed deeply at the waist to both Barrett and me. “When Kane, Nyx, and Rowe arrive, I will contact you again so we can plan how we will deal with Aurora.”
Behind me, I felt Danaus stiffen and his powers flare from his body. I slipped into his mind and could feel the bulge of earth energy approaching our location.
“Cynnia, have you sent for more guards?” Danaus demanded.
“No, the rest of my armies still remain near Charleston. I didn’t want to risk bringing more of my people into Mira’s domain until we had settled matters,” she said.
“Then we have a problem.”
“They’ve been hunting me,” Cynnia admitted with a weary shake of her head. “I thought we had lost them long enough that I could have this meeting without endangering you.”
“Can you tell what clan they are from?” I inquired.
“Earth clan, mostly,” Cynnia said. “But there appears to be at least one from the light clan.”
Looking over at Barrett, I smiled widely enough to expose my fangs. “Are you in the mood for a little warm-up? Some practice for the battle to come?”
Barrett smiled back as me as he started to unbutton his shirt, preparing to shift into wolf form. “I welcome it,” he said, his voice a deep growl in his barrel chest.
So did I.
Fourteen
Danaus stepped away from me, giving us plenty of room to fight in as he pulled a gun from a holster at his back. Knox palmed a pair of wicked looking blades as he shuffled a little closer to me. Meanwhile, both Barrett and Cooper shifted into wolf form, giving them the advantage of speed, stealth, and stability in the somewhat rocky terrain.
“Cynnia, hang back toward the tunnels with your guards!” I commanded, easily slipping into the role of leader as the battle hung before us. “Shelly, if things start to look like they’re not going our way, take Cynnia straight down the far right tunnel. It will take you up under the Pirate House. From there you should make it out of the city without further problem.”
“You think things are going to be that bad?” Knox inquired, twirling one blade in his hand. “I mean, you’ve fought worse odds than just a dozen naturi.”
“It’s earth clan naturi and we are somewhat underground at the moment,” I reminded him. “It’s not the best place to be holding this battle if I had a choice.”
“But you and Danaus can just cook them all as they come through the door, ending this battle in the blink of an eye.”
“That’s the whole plan at the moment, but the light clan member could make things difficult for me.” Turning my attention to Danaus, I asked, “Do we have any time to change locations?” The hunter only shook his head, which was for the best. While the earth clan had the advantage with this location, it was at least removed from the eyes of any humans. A fight here was unlikely to endanger our secret being exposed to the rest of the world.
I could feel the swelling of earth energy growing closer. With a wave of my hand, I extinguished the flames hovering in the air, leaving the tunnel lit by only the headlights from the cars we’d arrived in. With any luck our attackers would be blinded when they entered the dark cave, giving us the advantage for a precious few seconds.
Edging over to where Barrett, in wolf form, was anxiously pacing, I knelt down and placed a hand on his head, my fingers sinking into his thick fur. “When the light clan naturi has been identified, I need both you and Cooper to focus on him or her as I try to keep it occupied. Once the light naturi is killed, it will be easier for me to end the fight quickly.”
Barrett gave a quick snort, which I took as agreement. It was dangerous. If I didn’t keep the light clan naturi busy, Cooper and Barrett were toast.
Glancing over, I found Cynnia surrounded by her honor guard. With short swords in hand, the three were crouched in an aggressive position, ready to protect their future queen. Shelly stood positioned in front of Cynnia. I could feel the energy sparking around her, mixing with the energy coming from the naturi as the earth witch drew her power from the ground beneath her feet.
A loud creak at one of the metal doors drew my attention back to the entrance. The door was opened wide enough to allow one naturi to slide through. She raised her hands in front of her eyes to shield her from the glaring bright light coming from the cars. Instantly, I summoned up my powers and engulfed the naturi in a ball of flames. Unfortunately, they had been smart enough to send in the light naturi first to keep me occupied and essentially out of the battle until she was killed.
The light clan naturi threw out her arm as she dove out of the way and tucked into a neat roll, sending a large fireball in my direction. I quickly captured it and caused it to dissipate harmlessly as the rest of the attacking naturi followed her into the cave, using the safe cover she had created.
A low growl filled the enormous cave, echoing down the various tunnels, as Barrett and Cooper prepared to strike. Unfortunately, getting to the light naturi meant going through the eleven others surrounding her.
“Danaus, can you get rid of her for me?” I asked, hoping that a quick use of his powers would save the lycanthropes from what was proving to be a suicide mission.
“I’m having a little trouble at the moment,” he grumbled. For a second I wondered why, but my question was quickly answered when a dart embedded itself in my left arm. Pain screamed down my left side, burrowing down under my shoulder blade and throbbing in each of my fingers. I’d been so focused on the light naturi that I hadn’t noticed the earth clan naturi opt for poison darts to keep us at bay.
Pulling the dart out of my arm, I slipped behind one of the cars and turned my attention to Cynnia. I was about to tell that group to seek cover when I discovered that Shelly had already erected a magical barrier around her group. A half smile lifted one corner of my mouth. She was learning faster than I was giving her credit for.
I peered out from the safety of the car in time to see a series of fireballs hurled at my group. Kneeling down, I lifted my good right arm and called the fire to my side instead. Barrett and Cooper were lunging in and out, attempting to harry the naturi, but the circle around the light clan naturi was not wavering. In fact, we were at a standstill. They were not taking a chance at moving closer in, while we were not succeeding in killing them or pushing them out. What disturbed me most was that I wasn’t hearing any gunfire from Danaus. I tried to look around the car to see what the problem was, but the light naturi succeeded in keeping me too occupied to allow my attention to divert to the hunter.
Unfortunately, I felt the tide begin to change when a sickening yelp filled the air. I couldn’t afford the chance to look around to see who it came from, but I knew that one of the werewolves had been injured. The growling grew louder and I sensed them both retreating toward our group. Another round of fireballs were launched in their direction, and again I caught them, protecting the lycanthropes while they found a safer location. For now, they were out of the fight until the wounded werewolf healed. His companion would protect him until he was on his feet again.
With them temporarily taken out of the fight, and the wind clan naturi defending Cynnia, that left only Danaus, Knox, and me to wipe out the naturi that were creeping closer to our position. It wasn’t the best odds I’d had in a while, but I was unwilling to accept that they were impossible. I had to get through this fight to get my chance at Aurora’s head.
“Can you boil any of them now?” I asked Danaus. The darts had stopped flying and the naturi were now running toward us with short swords drawn.
“Not a problem,” he said as he rose from behind the large rock he had been using as a shield. With lightning speed he pitched two silver blades at the approaching naturi, catching two of them in the throat and sending them choking to the ground. He lifted his right hand and I could feel the energy surge from within him to sweep out toward the approaching naturi, and then it stopped just as suddenly. I twisted around, daring to look at him for a second, to find him staring at t
he ground.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
“I’m sinking,” he said, confusion filling his voice. Both of his feet were already covered in wet earth up to his ankles. He lifted one leg, trying to pull it free, but the quickly rising earth seemed to reach up and pull him back down. The earth clan had stolen away my other weapon by pulling him down into the earth. I needed to kill these bastards fast before Danaus was buried alive.
I turned back in time to see three naturi, and taking position directly in front of Danaus, raised my short sword in time to block a series of blows aimed at removing some critical body parts. While fending off the naturi, I continued to try summoning up flames to ward off my opponents, but every flicker was quickly doused by the light clan naturi, protected at the back of the cave by a small contingent of the earth clan.
Burn them! Boil them! We’re losing this one, Knox cried in my brain. And he was right. I could feel the panic rising in Danaus behind me as he continued to sink. He was so completely distracted by just trying to survive that he didn’t have a chance to use his powers, and I couldn’t harness his powers because it would sap him of the strength to fight the sinking earth.
“Shelly, get out of here!” I shouted, hating to admit defeat. The wind clan surrounding Cynnia had no magical edge under the earth, and we could only fight off the earth clan naturi with swords. If they turned their magic on the princess, we would be buried alive unless Shelly had a fresh trick up her sleeve, and I wasn’t willing to bet on that just yet. With Cynnia and her pack out of the way, we might at least get rid of some of the naturi should they turn their attention to the fleeing group.
However, luck just didn’t seem to be on my side. The earth clan naturi continued to come at us. I killed one of my opponents, but another took his place. Growling intensified from the far corner, indicating that some of the earth naturi were approaching the two lycanthropes. It wasn’t going to be a fair fight with one of them still wounded.
For the first time since the return of the naturi, I had to admit I was outgunned. I had spent most of my time going up against light and wind clan naturi, finding ways around their powers and keeping the fight on a physical level. I wasn’t prepared for a combination of earth and light clan in an area that gave them a distinct advantage.
“Mira! Can’t breathe!” Danaus gasped.
I didn’t need to look around to know that Danaus had sunk down into the earth to the level of his chest, the naturi using the dirt to crush him, keeping his lungs from properly expanding.
“Knox!” I screamed. I needed help. Someone had to free Danaus.
“I’m trapped,” he shouted back.
“I’ll see if I can help!” Shelly replied, stunning me.
“I told you to get out of here,” I snarled. I ducked low to avoid a sword aimed at my throat while blocking a second sword aimed at plunging through my heart. A few glancing blows had left me bleeding in a few places along my arms and legs, but nothing that had me concerned.
“Cynnia said that we won’t abandon you,” Shelly said, sounding distinctly closer.
I wanted to open my mouth to argue with her but said nothing as I continued to fight with the three naturi that stood before me. If Cynnia wanted to take this risk, it wasn’t my place to try to stop her. I was more concerned about saving Danaus, and I didn’t care where the help came from.
A scream from near the entrance of the tunnels seemed to draw everyone to a halt. I quickly looked over the heads of the naturi facing me to see a group of figures dressed all in black moving into the tunnels with amazing speed. A quick scan revealed that they were nightwalkers, but I was not at all familiar with them. And at that moment I didn’t care. The tables had finally turned.
“Shelly, shield me!” I commanded. In a blink of an eye a blue shield popped around me, protecting me from the swords of the naturi. Safe from my closest opponents, I turned my full attention to the light clan naturi, throwing fireball after fireball at her so she was preoccupied when the unknown nightwalkers finally plunged a knife into her chest and cut off her head.
The light clan naturi finally eliminated, I pulled more energy to my side and set aflame the remaining earth clan naturi that filled the cave. With the arrival of the unknown nightwalkers, the fight was over in a couple minutes. But now I was faced with the question of who our saviors were and what I owed them for their much needed assistance.
Fifteen
Shelly immediately dropped the shield from around me and rushed over to the deep shadows where the lycanthropes were hunkered down. I turned to find Danaus chest deep in the earth, struggling to get a full breath of air. The earth clan naturi had essentially turned the earth around him into a somewhat hard quicksand so he sank down, but as the pressure increased, the earth was crushing him.
“Knox! Help me free him!” I cried, falling to my knees before the hunter. My hands trembled as I dug into the dirt around his chest, breaking fingernails and tearing my fingers up as I pulled the earth away. Knox dropped to his knees beside me and quickly joined me in freeing the hunter.
“I can breath,” Danaus proclaimed after nearly a minute of digging. He sucked in a few deep breaths as Knox and I paused.
“Do you think we can pull you out or is it hardened completely around you?” Knox asked, clamping his left hand over a cut on his right arm that was struggling to close.
“You can try to pull me out,” Danaus said, twisting his body as much as he could, trying to free up some space. “Just don’t pull my arms out of their sockets.”
“Gee, thanks for the warning,” I groused as I pushed wearily to my feet. Then I grabbed his left arm while Knox got on his right. On the count of three we pulled as gently as we could, slowly lifting Danaus out of the earth and back onto solid ground. The hunter immediately collapsed to his knees and sucked in more air.
“Take a break,” I murmured, running my fingers through his hair before turning my attention to Knox. “Keep an eye on Cynnia for me as well as our new companions. It seems that Cynnia’s witch bodyguard is somewhat preoccupied with the shifters.”
“Got it.”
Watching the nightwalkers that continued to hover near the entrance to the tunnels out of the corner of my eye, I walked over to the lycanthropes. Both Cooper and Shelly were kneeling beside Barrett, who was sprawled naked across the ground. Shelly had her hand pressed tightly against his stomach, while Cooper, who was also naked, had one hand pressed to his brother’s right arm, attempting to stanch the bleeding. The witch was chanting softly with her eyes closed. I could feel the energy swirling in the air around her as she attempted to heal the worst of Barrett’s wounds.
“You seem to be in safe hands,” I said, resting my fists on my hips as I stared down at the alpha of the Savannah pack.
A crooked smile lifted the corners of Barrett’s mouth and he shook his head. “They are making much of nothing. I’ve seen worse wounds.”
“But never from a naturi blade,” Cooper snapped. “We can’t take any chances.”
“Who are our unexpected guests?” Barrett asked, ignoring his brother’s comment. He wasn’t about to show more weakness than he already displayed. He was more interested in directing the conversation away from himself.
“That’s what I’m about to find out,” I admitted with a soft sigh. “I wanted to make sure you were all right first.”
“With this angel working on the worst of my wounds, I think I shall be fine,” Barrett said, smiling once again.
“Done!” Shelly announced, allowing her shoulders to slump wearily. She rubbed both her hands across Barrett’s flat stomach, smearing away most of the blood to reveal what appeared to be a long red scratch.
“I didn’t realize that your skills included healing,” I said, gently pulling on a chunk of Shelly’s blond hair.
“They apply to only earthbound creatures such as lycanthropes,” she admitted, lifting her head to look over her shoulder at me. “There’s nothing I can do for nightwalkers, which a
re bound by blood magic.”
“Convenient,” I grumbled.
“We couldn’t take a chance with a wound from a naturi weapon. Cynnia warned me that they use all sorts of poisons and spells on their blades.”
“Have you even met Barrett before this moment?” I asked on an impulse.
“Not formally,” she said, a deep blush stealing to her cheeks. “I was at the town house when he stopped by before our trip to Peru last fall, but there was no time for introductions.”
Barrett made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat as his eyes fell shut. It had not been a good moment between us. He’d accused me of betraying both our peoples to the naturi because I had chosen to protect Cynnia. And now he was fighting for her as well. Oh, how the wheel of fate turns.
“Shelly, this is Barrett, the alpha for the Savannah pack,” I said, introducing them with an even voice despite the fact that I was laughing on the inside. “And this is his brother Cooper, his second in command.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” the witch replied as if she were not kneeling beside two naked men. “I want to thank you for your agreement to help Cynnia. You—”
“Shelly, you may want to save it for another time,” I interrupted. “I want you to get Cynnia and her people out of here through the tunnels before I go meet our new companions.”
The earth witch nodded up at me once and then turned her attention back to Barrett, smiling at him. “I wouldn’t shift for a little while if you can help it. I don’t think the wound will tear back open, but it would be better if you didn’t take any chances.”
Barrett caught her left hand as she tried to rise and gave it a quick squeeze before letting go. “Thank you,” he murmured in a low rough voice that surprised me. I raised one eyebrow at the lycanthrope but said nothing as he watched the witch quickly pick her way across the cave and return to Cynnia’s side.
I waited until the naturi party had begun to head toward the tunnels before stepping away from the lycanthropes and walking toward the center of the cave. The nightwalkers that unexpectedly joined the party had been considerate enough to wait at the far end as I checked over the health of my people. We were all battered, bruised, and cut, but nothing that wouldn’t heal with a little time.
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